Movie review: Less sparkle, but still some fun in 'Muppets' sequel

Before our poison pens even get to write the words “unnecessary sequel,” the filmmakers behind “Muppets Most Wanted” steal the wind from the critics’ sails and do it for us with the opening song, “We’re Doing a Sequel.” It’s a thumb-to-the-nose number suggesting Disney wanted another pay day. “All we need now is a half-decent plot,” and “How about the Muppets go on a world tour?” – sing Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo and Miss Piggy. James Bobin, who directed the 2011 smash “The Muppets,” is back behind the camera working from a script he co-wrote with Nicholas Stoller. They deliver more giggles, groans, pratfalls and mild rude humor (a city called “Poop-enburg”) for the pint-sized set. And, there’s enough nostalgia and self-referential fun hanging around to amuse adults who grew up watching the Muppets on TV. It’s all enhanced by peppy musical numbers and puns. Humans, played by Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell and a dozen or so celebrity cameos (Weymouth’s Rob Corddry, Christoph Waltz doing a waltz, and Usher being an usher) mix it up with the Muppets. What’s missing is Jason Segel (“I Love You, Man”), who co-wrote and starred in “The Muppets” with five-time Oscar-nominee Amy Adams (“American Hustle”). They were the movie’s emotional center, making it better than it had a right. The sequel doesn’t have the same spark or whimsy, just recycling.

The Muppets head to Europe on a world tour, a la “Cars 2,” with stops in Berlin, Madrid, Dublin and London. They get double-crossed by Gervais’s fast-talking agent Dominic Bad Guy, pronounced “Bad-gee. It’s French,” he says in a British accent, promising the felt-covered bunch, fame, fortune and sold-out theaters.

In a case of mistaken identity, Kermit – who looks exactly like “the world’s most dangerous frog,” Constantine, ends up serving time in a Russian gulag run by Nadya (Fey, hamming it up in a severe Soviet-style overcoat.) With a heavy Eastern European accent that sounds like Teddy KGB in “Rounders,” Constantine covers up the mole on his snout and passes himself off as Kermit. None of the Muppets, even the lovelorn Piggy, who knows her Kermie best, question anything until Walter, the newest Muppet introduced in the last film, grows suspicious of the frog’s uncharacteristic behavior. Kermit would never let Gonzo stage an indoor running of the bulls or have Piggy perform five Celine Dion songs.

Kermit is separated from the rest of the crew for most of the movie, but his BFFs in jail – Ray Liotta, Danny Trejo, Jermaine Clement – make the prison scenes a riot with big numbers like “The Casa Grande” and “The Big House.” Elsewhere, Burrell plays goofy Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon, who is merely a version of his “Modern Family” character. He’s paired with Sam the Eagle as a CIA operative. The sight gag of the pair stuffed into a teeny Interpol car is played for a few laughs to the delight of the small fries.

The movie is preceded by an amusing Pixar short called “Party Central” featuring the gang from “Monsters University.”